Tusculum vs. UWG: CSS broadcasting Volunteer Sept. 8, 2012

I was blessed with the opportunity to work with the CSS broadcasting team on this day. I arrived at the stadium early around 11:45 a.m. excited about just being apart of the experience. I wasn't only excited about helping out but also seeing Tusculum college face off against West Georgia. It was ironic to me because Tusculum offered me a scholarship to play football for them but instead I chose to attend West Georgia. Although I was no longer playing football for West Georgia I couldn't wait to see the competiveness  and the type of athletes on Tusculums team.

Back to the topic at hand. As I sat under the big white tent waiting on instructions from the CSS director, we were fed Shane's Rib Shack.  This was a treat because I was staaarving.  Once everyone arrived that was volunteering as well, the director introduced us to his  broadcasting crew. He gave us a brief description of each of their jobs and then he told us where he wanted us to go once the game started. Since I was familiar with the game of football he put me in charge of calling the downs and yardage back to the broadcasting truck from the press box. I was excited to but also kind of nervous because I didn't want to screw up a live broadcasting.

As the game was about to start, I reported to the press box to meet whoever I was supposed to be working with. Stepping off the elevator I was amazed with the press box. It was really nice. It was my first time ever being up there. It was a major come up from where West Georgia's football team used to play at Carrollton high schools stadium. I felt like I was in a D-1 facility. Any who, I reported to the press box and there were a team of people already sitting in their designated areas. I introduced myself and told them I was there to do the stats as a CSS volunteer.  They told me the GSC had already brought their own stat guy. In the back of my mind I was thinking "only at West Georgia". They told me to go down to the broadcasting truck to talk it over with the Director. So I arrive at the truck just right outside of the stadium.  In this small beat down truck there were 5 people in it with buttons and screens everywhere. It felt like a scene out of the Anchorman. lol. A bunch of co-workers horsing around before they had to go on live.

The Director informed me that he didn't know that GSC had brought their own stat guy and told me just to sit tight. So there I was standing in this baby truck for the whole first half of the game watching them work their magic. It was interesting to see though. There is really a lot going on behind the scenes that you would never think of if you were at home just watching the game. One guy is responsible for queing back replays, another guy strictly handles scripts,scores, and additional info that rolls across the screen and plenty of other roles played by the crew. The Director is like the quarterback of the whole scheme of things. He's calling out what camera angles he wants displayed, zoom ins, zoom outs, calling tv timeouts and so on. Its a controlled chaos on that truck.

After spending the first half on the truck I was ready to help in some sort of way so I made my way to the sidelines. As I looked up in the stands, it was a pretty good turnout.  There were a lot more fans than when I played. I was handed the audio shield and told to point it towards the football wherever it goes. Easy enough, even though the shield had a short in the cord. I loved it though. There is no better place to be than being right there close up to the action. It was a good game. Tusculum had a pretty decent team. I wondered how my life would have been different had I chose to go to Tusculum instead of West Georgia. Would I have been presented with the same opportunities? All in all it was a good experience and I enjoyed myself and West Georgia won38-29! At the end of the game the team gathered in front of the home crowd and sang the Alma mater. This was new to me. We never did that when I played. It was good to see that West Georgia was building some tradition.

The University of West Georgia's campus is in full bloom. I've had the experience to see the campus change in infrastructure, culture, and tradition, spanning from the year 2005 until now in my graduating year. It has been a long, challenging, enlightening, and adventurous journey. It has changed from a small campus where everybody knew everybody, to a fairly larger campus where it is kind of rare to see the same face twice now. I will remain a West Georgia Brave at heart forever, but I will walk with the new pack of Wolves and share my wisdom and in turn will learn and understand the new culture of a West Georgia Wolf.